The same author looks at the first inter-ethnic conflict between Macedonians and Albanians on July 23, 1998.

After a dozen of "inter ethnic" conflicts where the main roles were played by Macedonin policemen and civilians of Albanian nationality (some of them even with tragic consequences), a first real inter - ethnic incident occurred . On July 18, before midnight, "the main Albanian city in Macedonia," as some foreign journalists call Tetovo, became the scene of first inter - ethnic street fight in which the protagonists were so called plain citizens, - Macedonians and Albanians - while the Macedonian police played the role of peacemaker, that is, it was attempting to prevent the escalation of the conflict.

The conflict came about according to a well seen formula from the regions of former Yugoslavia, (based on alleged rape, that is), in which the main protagonist is a male perpetrator of Albanian nationality. That night, certain Borce Nikolovski from Tetovo, entered a Tetovo cafe "Arbi," a usual gathering place of Albanians, mainly sympathizers of the oppositionary party DPA (frequent guests are the DPA leaders themselves), armed with a baseball bat and a knife (as the police report says), while he was leading his wife with him. At the surprise of the guests, he called on her to show who attacked her the night before in the entrance of her building while she was trying to reach her apartment. Since the baffled woman obviously could not tackle the unusual situation and was not able to identify the supposed perpetrator, her husband (who at that moment appeared intoxicated) took matters into his own hands and started to break tables and chairs in the restaurant, shouting derogatory remarks at the account of Albanians at the same time.

Even though at the first moment the guests of the restaurant sat peacefully and quietly, not reacting to the unusual guest, at a certain moment a number of them started throwing bottles in the direction of the aggressive guest. In the meantime, a number of friends came to aid Nikolovski, with the intention of helping him "if it became necessary" (as the main protagonist stated after the clash), while one of them had it worst, since he ended up with a serious eye wound in a Skopje eye clinic. At the first sign of a fight, according to the eyewitnesses, a larger group of Macedonians gathered in the vicinity of this restaurant (witnesses say some 200) and then it entered the fracas by throwing stones and other objects in the direction of the restaurant. They were joined by inhabitants of nearby buildings, who threw different solid objects towards the restaurant. The whole mess was immediately joined by a respective group of Albanians (according to witnesses there 200 people on the Albanian side too) and it responded in kind.

The fight was cut short by the Tetovo police, which was able to separate the two sides and prevent an escalation of the conflict and more serious consequences. At the same time, it was able to catch five persons, among them the main protagonist of the fight. But, after the first calm, the battle was continued in front of another restaurant, "Skorpius," where Macedonians gather, located nearby. The police intervened again by standing in between the two groups, so the escalation was prevented again, letting the heads finally cool down.

More or less happy ending of this first inter ethnic conflict on a larger scale in Macedonia almost certainly does not mean the end of the process of escalation of inter ethnic conflicts which were indirect so far, since the authority, and not the people, were in the role of "the other side." As an illustration of this possibility could be the fact that similar conflicts of lesser intensity and consequences occurred already in Tetovo. A number of cases of mass attacks on Albanian students were registered in Skopje. The fights occurred because the Albanian students were speaking in a foreign tongue," which the attackers took as an offence.

A case of similar ethnic divide was registered among the older generation this summer. After a number of years of successful operation, one of the oldest taxi companies in Skopje, "Vodno," where taxi drivers of all nationalities worked, decided to change its ethnic composition. The taxi drivers of Macedonian origin decided to step out of the union and form a new one, because they did not want to work in a company with "others."

Wht is most worrisome in all these cases is the lack of any organized action, either of the public or responsible people from the state. Neither the story of student fights, nor the one dealing with the taxi company were a challenge enough to start an action in public against such occurrences.



Source: "AIM" news pool, July 23, 1998